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COUNTERFEITS/
FOOD & DRINKS
source: www.eubusiness.com/topics/
Trade/piracy.2005-02-09
foods.net/article131.html
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Inferior raw ingredients using additives that breach safety levels is just one example of the threat that illegal food and beverage products pose…- Research provided at the World Economic Forum in 2003 indicates that counterfeit food products can be produced and sold at prices much lower than legitimate products because the fake products are often made with substandard ingredients. In addition, these counterfeit goods undergo little or no quality control or even basic health and safety testing;
- according to the 2004 global report carried out by Gieschen Consultancy (based on the year’s last three months of worldwide counterfeit enforcement activity), 25% of counterfeit food and alcohol products are manufactured by purchasing expired stock and repacking as new items;
- in the European Union the problem of counterfeiting is proving to be an increasingly challenging problem to tackle. Between 2002 and 2003, the incidence of counterfeit food products increased 77%, with the European Commission declaring that confectionery, bakery and a range of other leading branded goods (sweets, waffles, chewing gum) and even apples were all high up on the list;
- according to the latest figures from the state trade inspectorate of the Russian ministry of economy, some 40% of all the alcoholic beverages and 36% of all the foodstuffs on sale in Russia during the first half of 2003 were counterfeit – part of a worsening problem that is costing Moscow over US$1 billion a year. According to other official statistics, up to 50% of meat, dairy and fish products as well as tea and coffee are falsified; (1)
- a survey, carried out in Moscow in March 2003 by the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR), showed that - after clothing, footwear and sportswear - alcohol (47%), food (46%), and soft drinks (24%) were the counterfeit products most ‘encountered’ by consumers; (2)
- every third Russian is sold margarine instead of butter and soy instead of meat Recently, the number of counterfeit fish and dairy products has risen significantly (especially condensed milk) as well as the level of falsified alcoholic products: in 2002, 36,000 Russians died from alcoholic poisoning brought on by falsified products; (1)
- in the United States, according to a federal indictment made public in 2002, US Customs officials seized 59,000 bottles of counterfeit vodka in a Massachusetts warehouse. It had been imported from a former Soviet republic; (3)
- increasingly, the threat of deliberately adulterated or spurious food products is fueling concerns over agroterrorism and bioterrorism as the food supply has been shown to be vulnerable to phony baby formula which killed dozens of children in China. More than 100,000 bags of the fake formula sold under dozens of brand names were seized. According to statistics provided by the Fuyang Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 97% of the fake products consumed by the sick children had failed to reach the minimum 10% national standard of protein content for infant milk powder. Some contained less than 1% protein; (4)
- in Saudi Arabia, a November 2001 raid at a counterfeit factory in Jeddah resulted in the seizure of 10,000 packets of jelly, 650,000 packets of macaroni, and other items. The factory employed 120 workers who were involved in producing fake cardboard cartons, cans and bottles;
- Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have become South Africa's counterfeit capitals, where even staple food items, such as rice, baked beans, maize and masala, are being peddled on street corners and at flea markets under false labels, according to government officials and the police. Inspectors from the department of trade and industry (DTI) have caught scores of individuals while uncovering more than 250 cases of fake products in 2004 and the first months of 2005; (5)
Food and packaging firms are beginning to take action in order to stem this trend. - there are now a number of products on the market designed to stop counterfeiting and protect brand-name products; Japan-based engineering firm Teikoku Piston Ring for example has developed a hologram identification label that it brings anti-counterfeiting packaging to new levels. This means that it is possible to apply brand-protection functions with no alteration in plant and/or facilities and with no increased processing; (6)
- in addition, scientists from the University of Seville, Spain, have developed a method of finger-printing champagne, cava, and other wines to prevent cheaper products being passed off as the more expensive varieties.
(1) Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, Deputy Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade, intervening at an international conference in November 2003.
(2) Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR), a private-public partnership dedicated to advancing intellectual property rights protection and reform in the CIS countries and the Baltic States.
(3) Thanassis Cambanis, “Fancy Labels, Cheap Vodka Don’t Mix”, The Boston Globe, May 2, 2002, at B1.
(4) www.anti-counterfeitcongress.org/wco2004/website.asp
(5) As seen on [ www.iol.co.za].
(6) www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/news-ng.asp?id=57993-increase-in-counterfeit
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